Abstract
The rising prevalence of social loneliness among solo-living young adults indicates an urgent need for support. However, research addressing this issue, especially in Asia, is limited. This study aims to bridge this gap by introducing co-illustration workshops as a novel method to enhance social connections and wellbeing in this demographic. Employing a participatory action research (PAR) methodology, the study engages participants in five iterative co-design cycles to enhance social connections. The findings suggest that temporary co-illustration workshops serve as a conduit for conversation and facilitate the formation of high-quality weak ties, thereby alleviating social loneliness. This paper provides guidance and perspective on the iterative process of co-designing the visual toolkit-based workshops, which offer non-medical support to bolster young adults' social connections. The study contributes to enhancing social connectivity and wellbeing among young adults by designing to leverage the emotional connections potential of the visual arts.
Keywords
solo-living young adults; co-illustration; co-design; social connections
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.2458
Citation
Wang, J., Rose, E., and Calvo, M. (2026) Enhancing social connections through co-illustration workshops among solo-living young adults, in Simeone, L., Gray, C. M., Verhoeven, A., de Götzen, A., Bakırlıoğlu, Y., Zohar, H., Stead, M., and Buwert, P. (eds.), DRS2026: Edinburgh, 8–12 June, Edinburgh, United Kingdom. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.2458
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Included in
Enhancing social connections through co-illustration workshops among solo-living young adults
The rising prevalence of social loneliness among solo-living young adults indicates an urgent need for support. However, research addressing this issue, especially in Asia, is limited. This study aims to bridge this gap by introducing co-illustration workshops as a novel method to enhance social connections and wellbeing in this demographic. Employing a participatory action research (PAR) methodology, the study engages participants in five iterative co-design cycles to enhance social connections. The findings suggest that temporary co-illustration workshops serve as a conduit for conversation and facilitate the formation of high-quality weak ties, thereby alleviating social loneliness. This paper provides guidance and perspective on the iterative process of co-designing the visual toolkit-based workshops, which offer non-medical support to bolster young adults' social connections. The study contributes to enhancing social connectivity and wellbeing among young adults by designing to leverage the emotional connections potential of the visual arts.